


The Things That No One Knows

by being_alive



Series: Mini-Fics [6]
Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare, Romeo et Juliette - Presgurvic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Juliet Lives, Angst, F/M, I'm Bad At Titles, POV Third Person, but still mostly angst, so does Paris and this time it is actually important, with very slight fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 00:18:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18905632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/being_alive/pseuds/being_alive
Summary: Romeo is dead, and Juliet is to be wed in two days.





	The Things That No One Knows

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know.

Romeo is dead, and Juliet is to be wed in two days. She should be dead as well, and would have been had that thrice-damned not arrived and wrenched the knife from her despairing hands. He'd tucked it into the front of his robes as he left her there beside Romeo to go tend to something else. She doesn't know what that something was because she'd only cared about Romeo, and now wondering about it is pointless because that was over a week ago and Romeo is dead and she is to be wed to Paris. 

Paris, with his smug smile and his too-green eyes and his flashy golden clothing, Paris, Paris, Paris, who has decided to come visit her now. They stand facing each other in the gardens, having lapses into silence after their initial pleasantries, and she hates it, hates him, hates the Friar, hates all of Verona.

"I don't want to marry you," Juliet tells him finally, breaking the silence, but Paris simply smiles at her. His smile causes fury to grow within her because Romeo is dead and she is forced to be here, with Paris standing in front of her and smiling as if nothing has changed. So she resists the urge to contain her rage and instead begins, "I want Romeo, and not you. He was my husband, but now he's dead and you're here, presuming that I'll be your happy little bride."

"I was there that night," Paris spits at her, and she pauses in shock. His smile has given way to a scowl.

"Go ahead, look at what your darling _husband_ did to me," Paris says after she doesn't respond, grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling it open without bothering to unbutton it first. A few small golden buttons pop off and scatter, but that's not what she's looking at. Her gaze falls on the still-healing mark that will soon be a scar, bright pink and jagged at one end. She doesn't recall seeing him at all that night, but then remembers the Friar leaving her to tend to something else. 

That something else must've been him, she realizes.

As she stares at him wide-eyed, Paris sneers and continues, "I'm sure you've managed to excuse his killing of your own cousin in the name of self-defense or vengeance or what may have you, but my only crime was that I was just there to mourn the girl I was to marry, and look what I got for it."

She doesn't want to believe him, that Romeo would do such a thing, but she knew and has loved him for such a small period of time that she's not even sure if she knows who he truly was. She's not even sure if that matters now because Romeo is dead and she and Paris have lapsed into silence once more.

Several long, tense, silent moments pass before Juliet says, quietly, "I'll marry you." 

Paris nods, but does not smile.

And so she does, two days later, in a ceremony officiated by the same Friar who married her to Romeo, the same Friar who should've let her die, the same Friar who can't meet her eyes now. She and Paris say their vows, though the words ring false in her ears, and they become man and wife.

His lips meet hers in a kiss so long and deep that she can hear her mother clearing her throat in disapproval, and despite how much she hates him, Juliet feels more alive than she has since Romeo died.

Later, after their marriage is consummated and Paris has fallen asleep with one arm around her, Juliet finds herself unable to fall asleep. She studies him in moonlight coming in through the window, noticing how the moonlight has turned his near-golden hair silver and how peaceful he looks in his sleep. 

Slowly, carefully, gently, she reaches one hand up and runs a fingertip down the length of the wound, nearly healed but still rough from scabbing, that was caused by Romeo.

Romeo is dead Juliet is wed. Paris is here, and Paris is alive, and perhaps someday, she thinks he could bring her happiness. With a small sigh, Juliet presses herself closer to Paris and his warmth, before closing her eyes and waiting for sleep to take her.

\---

Paris proves himself to be a surprisingly decent man and better husband. He is faithful to her and still swears his love even when she begins to turn soft from age and the births of their children. Even as the years pass and even as she grows to be something resembling happy with Paris, she never forgets that one fateful ball or the blue-eyed boy on her balcony.


End file.
